1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus of a type having a cover for covering the endoscope to prevent contamination of the endoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
Endoscopes are widely used in the medical field and so forth. When an inspection with an endoscope of the type for use in the medical field is performed, a clean endoscope sufficiently must be used which is washed and disinfected prior to the inspection.
However, the endoscope usually has air-supply and water-supply passages and a forceps channel, requiring a long time to completely clean or disinfect the insides of the pipe portions. Since the disinfection process must be performed sufficiently to obtain a desired effect, the process must be performed for a long period of time. As a result, a problem arises in that the efficiency in using the endoscope deteriorates. Another problem is that the disinfection process is too complicated to be completed.
In view of overcoming the aforesaid problems, an endoscope apparatus of a type having a cover for covering the endoscope has been disclosed, in which the body of an endoscope is used in a state where it is covered with a cover for the endoscope, and only the cover for the endoscope is disposed of after use and replaced to prevent the unclean state of the body of the endoscope so that the the necessity of performing the cleaning operation and the disinfection process are eliminated. The foregoing structure has been disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,050,585, 4,646,722, Europe Patent Application Laid-Open No. 0,341,719, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-54734, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,162,190.
Specifically, the endoscope for use with the endoscope cover fastened is used in such a manner that its insert is previously cleaned and subjected to a sterilization and disinfecting process, and the insert and the like of the endoscope are covered with the endoscope cover followed by insertion of the insert into the coelom of a patient to inspect or cure the patient. After the endoscope has been used, the endoscope cover for covering the body of the endoscope is removed and disposed. By disposing the endoscope cover for each patient as described above, the body of the endoscope does not need to be cleaned or disinfected. Therefore, it can always be kept clean and sanitary. Since the body of the endoscope can be successively used while eliminating the necessity of cleaning and disinfecting it, the efficiency of using the endoscope can be satisfactorily improved.
Recently, there has arisen a problem of the disposition of the disposable products in view of environmental safeguards. Therefore, it is desirable that the manufacturer supplies products to consumers while taking, for example, recycling into consideration. However, the foregoing conventional endoscope covers have not been satisfactorily adaptable to the foregoing circumstance. Although the recycle must be so performed that the components are divided depending upon the material, the conventional endoscope cover incorporates components which are made of a multiplicity of materials, causing a problem to arise in that the division takes a too long time. In addition, the materials employed to constitute the members are not suitable to be subjected to the recycle process. The conventional endoscope cover sometimes employs an adhesive agent to connect the components, resulting in difficulty in decomposing the components. Furthermore, the adhesive agent usually contains a variety of components, resulting in a problem in that the components with the adhesive agent cannot be adaptable to the recycle process.
Furthermore, it is preferred in view of the environmental safeguards that the manufacturer considers the combustion facility when it supplies the disposable products to consumers. However, the conventional endoscope covers have not satisfactorily met the foregoing requirement. That is, the conventional endoscope cover has components that partially contain metals and resins. Therefore, there arises a problem at the combustion of the disposed components in that they cannot be subjected to the combustion process. The metals, which cannot be subjected to the combustion process, and resins, which can be subjected to the combustion process, must be divided to dispose them. Moreover, some resins for use in the conventional endoscope cover generate poisonous gas at the time of the combustion process. Therefore, some resin components cannot be subjected to the combustion process as it is. In addition, the conventional endoscope cover sometimes uses an adhesive agent to connect the components to each other, causing a difficulty to arise at the time of decomposing the components. Furthermore, the adhesive agent usually contains various components, causing a problem to arise in that poisonous gas sometimes is generated depending upon the type of the adhesive agent.
The endoscope cover of the conventional endoscope apparatus of a type having the endoscope cover disclosed in Europe Patent Publication Laid-Open No. 0,341,719 incorporates a cover for an insert of the endoscope and a cover for the control unit of the endoscope. The control unit of the endoscope has a handle in the leading portion and the cover for the control unit covers the portion including the handle. In the foregoing structure, the boundary between the cover for the control unit and the cover for the insert is positioned below the handle that can easily be contaminated. In the foregoing case, the invasion of contaminants through the boundary or that .due to the undesirable shift of the cover for the control unit during use of the endoscope must be prevented by carefully fastening the cover. The portion covered with the cover for the insert of the conventional endoscope cover is provided with the forceps channel and the air/water-supply passages. If the structure is so arranged that the base of the cover for the insert is positioned more forwards than the handle, the passage outwards extending from the base of the cover for the insert is undesirably positioned below the handle. As a result, the foregoing passage interrupts the operation with the endoscope, causing deterioration to arise in the operation facility.